MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS

Free Vibrations of Single DOF Systems

Chapter 02
S.S. Rao (5th Edition)

Mohsin Rashid
Lecturer
MED – The University of Lahore
 INTRODUCTION
 A system is said to undergo free vibration when it oscillates only under an initial disturbance
with no external forces acting afterward.
 Some examples are the oscillations of the pendulum of a grandfather clock, the vertical
oscillatory motion felt by a bicyclist after hitting a road bump, and the motion of a child on a
swing after an initial push.
 Several mechanical and structural systems can be idealized as
single-degree-of-freedom systems

 In many practical systems, the mass is distributed, but for a

simple analysis, it can be approximated by a single point mass

 Similarly, the elasticity of the system, which may be distributed

throughout the system, can also be idealized by a single spring
FREE UNDAMPED VIBRATIONS OF SDOF TRANSLATORY
SYSTEMS
 D’ ALEMBERT’S PRINCIPLE

 It is principle in mechanics which states that the reaction due to the inertia of an accelerated body
(as a baseball) is equal and opposite to the force causing the acceleration (as the blow of a bat
upon the baseball) and results in a condition of kinetic/dynamic equilibrium
VERTICAL MASS SPRING SYSTEM
 VERTICAL MASS SPRING SYSTEM
 At rest, the mass will hang in a position called the static equilibrium position, in which the
upward spring force exactly balances the downward gravitational force on the mass

 This indicates that when a mass moves in a vertical direction, we can ignore its weight, provided
we measure x from its static equilibrium position
SOLUTION OF EQUATION OF MOTION
GENERAL SOLUTION OF EQUATION OF MOTION
MAIN ASPECTS OF SPRING-MASS
SYSTEM
FREE UNDAMPED VIBRATIONS OF SDOF TORSIONAL SYSTEMS

 Angular vibration of any object twisted about its axis,

alternating from one direction to the other is called
torsional vibration

 In this case, the displacement of the body is measured in

terms of an angular coordinate

 The restoring moment may be due to the torsion of an

elastic member or to the unbalanced moment of a force or
couple

 Let the angular rotation of the disc about the axis of the
shaft be θ
 FREE DAMPED VIBRATIONS OF SDOF TRANSLATORY
SYSTEMS

 In viscous damping, the damping force is proportional to the velocity of the vibrating body
LOGARITHMIC DECREMENT
FREE DAMPED VIBRATIONS OF SDOF TORSIONAL SYSTEMS